


Vampire and His Human Child

by PuellaPulchra



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen, Past Abuse, Past Kidnapping, Past Mental torture, Past Torture, Season 2, Spike has a soul, Will add tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28300146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuellaPulchra/pseuds/PuellaPulchra
Summary: When Spike and Drusilla break up over the disagreement of how best to treat a young child, Spike takes the child and leaves. Years later after a soulful Spike is badly injured in Prague, the girl takes him to Sunnydalein the hopes that the energy from the Hellmouth will restore him to health.
Relationships: Possible eventual Spike/Buffy Summers, Spike & Original Characters
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	1. Welcome to Sunnydale (Home Sweet home)

**Author's Note:**

> First Buffy fic.  
> Updates will heavily depend on if I get any reviews and if I have the desire to update. 
> 
> First things first.  
> 1\. Spike's soul. He wasn't cursed. He chose it for himself when he decided to raise Aisling himself.  
> 2\. TimeLine. The first chapter takes place before 2x01. Spike didn't want Aisling to miss school, so they moved just before class started.

Welcome to Sunnydale (Home Sweet Home)

_Oops_ , Aisling thought when she drove over the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign. Beside her her bleach blond adoptive father chuckled softly. Instead of staying to survey the damage done to the sign, she made a turn and drove down until she found the street she needed.

To be honest, the absolute last place she wanted to be was in another town that had a Hellmouth, (Cleveland had been a mess and a half) but this Hellmouth also had The Slayer, and if she had to choose between a Hellmouth with the slayer and one without- well it wasn’t exactly a hard decision. Though if it hadn’t been for the fact that a Hellmouth could supposedly help her father heal, she wouldn’t have even entertained the notion.

She stopped at the building she had been searching for, an apartment building a few blocks away from the school. For a moment she stayed still her hands clasping the steering wheel.

Then a pale cool hand reached out and held hers.

She turned to face the man, bleached blonde hair and blue eyes and covered neck to feet in black. She took a deep breath at his concern. "We're here." She said, he voice held a light irish accent, undoing her seatbelt.

Her father shook his head. “Wait here.” He said.

She wanted to argue and leave with him but he levelled her with a stare that had her backing down. When he was sure that she was going to do as he said he undid his seatbelt, opened the car door and left leaving him behind.

She locked the door behind him and waited. The moment her father had left she let out a breath she hadn’t realized that she had been holding since they left Prague.

She should never have suggested going to Prague. France would have been better, or Rome, or Ireland (where she had chosen to go every other year), literally any other place but Prague.

Every summer they travelled for summer vacation. Every year they switched on who got to decide where they vacationed. Her dad had been reminiscing about Prague and Aisling had figured that it would be nice to see, so that’s what she had suggested.

Aisling shook her head Idiot.

She leaned her head against the steering wheel. She would have given anything to take back that summer, to suggest any other place.

Someone knocked on the door and she turned to see Spike waving at her to come out. She took another deep breath and unlocked the door and stepped out of the cool September air. Together they walked to the back of the car and opened the truck.

Aisling reached out and pulled out two suitcases while Spike pulled out another. Aisling sighed as she watched him struggle.

“I can make multiple trips, it’s fine.”

Her dad stared at her before ruffling her hair and kissing her forehead and instead reached into the backseat and pulled out a backpack. Aisling rolled her eyes, the backpack contained most of his food.

“Want you to eat when we get inside,” Aisling said. “You haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, Bit”

“So you say,” Aisling said then she switched tactics. “Still… I don’t want that to expire, so please. Eat.”

Dad sighed. “Point.”

Aisling smiled at the win, then it slipped when she looked at the suitcase her father had been unable to lift before she turned and walked with her Dad toward the landlord.

The landlord was not human, though the exact species of the demon was completely lost on her. He smiled down at her and she smiled back, but she could tell that both her father and the landlord could tell that she was forcing it.

“She’s tired.” Dad covered. “Bit’s been up since dawn.”

The landlord wisely did not mention that Aisling was carrying more than her father was. He walked them over to the main entrance and walked them through the passcode needed to enter. Then with a glance at the young human girl he explained that if they were bringing human company, there was a second code they had to enter, that worked as a kind of warning system so the demons living there could hide out of sight.

“Course, the girl here doesn’t count, since she’s living here. I take it she’s used to demons?”

“She is,” Aisling said tired of the landlord talking to her father like she wasn’t capable of understanding speech. “Living with a vampire will do that.”

“Have to say, I’ve seen a fair number of humans and demons living here together, but a human and a vampire living together is new.”

Dad wrapped an arm around Aisling. “She’s my daughter, found her when she was just a wee young thing.”

“I was 7.” Aisling cut in. “He found me when I was 7.”

“And how old are you now?” Landlord asked finally turning his attention to her.

“Turned sixteen this June.”

Landlord whistled. “Almost a lady.”

She wanted to gag at the almost patronizing tone the Landlord adopted. Her father must have sensed her ire because he quickly changed the subject.

“Will the other tenants mind?” Her father asked referring to Aisling bringing friends over.

The Landlord shook his head. “Nah, a good number of demons have kids that are human or human passing, and they like bringing human friends over. We just ask that you and your... daughter give us a heads up.”

Aisling nodded, though she had no interest in bringing friends over. “Thank you.” She said anyway.

The Landlord walked the two of them to the elevator, pressed the button and it led them up to the fifth floor.

“Have to say, Spike, when vampires do rent an apartment here, they tend to take the basement; fewer chances of sun exposure. Yet you specifically asked for an apartment with east-facing windows." The Landlord said as he led them through the building.

Aisling's father, Spike, shrugged. “Aisling likes watching the sunrise.”

“I also like not having my dad burst into flames,” Aisling said.

Her dad rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

“Uh-huh,” Aisling said rolling her eyes. “You always say that.”

Dad smiled. “And It’s always true.”

Not always. Not that Aisling was going to out her father’s injuries to a stranger.

“Here’s your room.” The Landlord said as he unlocked the door. “Rents due at the beginning of every month, though if you need more time we can work something out.”

“Thank you,” Spike said, Aisling nodded along.

The Landlord handed Spike the key before leaving. He closed the door with a soft click.

Fortunately, the apartment already had furniture. So they didn’t have to worry about sleeping on the floor, especially considering they had sold their last house and everything in it to afford to come there.

Aisling placed her bags on the floor and turned to stare at her father, who looked ready to keel over.

Aisling hurried forward and steadied him before leading him to the couch and gently pushed him onto it; then she removed his coat before she did so. Gently she took the backpack from him pulled out a thermos, opened it and handed it to him.

The smell of blood nearly undid him- even if it was two days old and nearly expired-, Aisling could tell he was holding himself together just enough that he wouldn’t vamp out as he guzzled down the thermos of blood.

Once he was done he put the thermos down, his mouth now blood red. He licked his lips and stared down at her.

“You don’t have to hide when you feed,” Aisling said. “I’ve seen you vamp out before, I’m not scared.”

“It’s not you Bit,” Spike said. “You know I have less control when I vamp out.”

She did, she also knew that Spike had the best control out of any vampire she knew. “Are you still hungry?”

Spike hesitated and Aisling pulled out another thermos and handed it to him. “Drink, I’m gonna go get the rest of the stuff.”

“Ash-“

“It’ll be fine,” Aisling said with a smile as she rummaged through the pockets of Spike’s leather duster to find the keys. “Have a little faith in me, will ya?” she said clasping the keys in her hand and hurrying out of the room before Spike could argue.

***

For as much as Aisling tried to hide, Spike always knew when she was scared, or worried, or in pain. Her heartbeat tended to always give her away, and if not her heartbeat then he tended to be able to smell the fear, or pain that would radiate off her in waves.

The last time Aisling had been near a Hellmouth had been when she was 12, they’d stayed there for six months before they’d packed up and left.

At least this one had The Slayer which would mean that there was some level of protection. It was the only reason he’d agreed to come to Sunnydale in the first place, and even then he’d raised concerns, but Aisling had been adamant, arguing that Spike’s job depended on him being in top physical health.

When Spike had still declined arguing that they would find another way to make money, that it wasn't the first time that they had landed on hard time. Aisling had brought up _Her_. Arguing that now that he was weak, she would likely know and would be heading straight for them. At least if they left for Sunnydale, they had the added protection of the Slayer, and with any luck it would detour Her, from making her way over.

He hated it. Hated that even after 8 years She was still a threat.

Spike was not the type to run. Every time She had come he'd been able to get her out of town, but now that he was weakened he had been forced to leave Los Vegas and come to the HellMouth in the hopes that the Slayer was somewhat competent (Though the fact that she'd survived the Master and Lothos suggested that she was), and able to deal with a vampire's whose mental abilities was on par with Lothos.

It helped to know that he had personally seen to Aisling's training, that he had taught her every conceivable way to kill vampires and demons. Trained her in techniques that would hopefully protect her from mental attacks. Training that saved her life multiple times, that saved his own life in Prague.

It also helped that the Master was dead, and the leader of the Order of Aurelius was some child fledge that had only been a vampire for a few months.

It helped that they were living close to the active Slayer. For however long that Slayer had left she would at least make sure that as many vampires and demons as possible died and stayed dead.

Still living so close to a Hell Mouth, while making him stronger, was very dangerous to the young human girl living with him, and he didn’t know if the Hellmouth would ever truly revive him to full strength.

He heard the sound of someone turning the doorknob and turned his head just as Aisling walked through carrying two more suitcases.

“Before you head back out.” Spike started stalling her. “Choose a room?”

Aisling paused and stepped forward and headed to the first door that was right beside the living room. She opened the door and looked inside it. It was small but not cramped there was still a bed from the previous owners, though it was completely stripped of sheets. A small dresser and a closet off to the right.

The east wall had a large window that gave her a perfect view of the town Skyline and would allow her to see the sun as it rose.

Despite its very deadly effect on her father, she always found the sight of the dawn to be beautiful. With a sigh, she turned and walked down the mini hallway and opened the second door and entered what was so obviously the master bedroom. Around twice the size of the other room with a walk-in closet, that Aisling was tempted to suggest to Spike that he convert it into his bedroom, so he didn’t risk waking up every morning burning to death. Oddly enough the window here was a lot smaller and had blinds already up.

“I’ll take the other one,” Aisling said.

“Are you sure?” Spike asked.

Aisling smiled. “I don’t need a lot of room.” She said.

“Neither do I Ash.”

Aisling shrugged. “The other room has bigger windows,” Ash said. “You're less likely to fry here. Also, the walk-in closet could be better for you… if you want to convert it into a smaller bedroom so your even less likely to fry during the day.”

“Ha, bloody ha,” Spike said dryly.

Ash rolled her eyes. “There are a few extra bags in the car, I’m going to go get them.” She said turning to walk away.

“Aisling.” Aisling paused and turned around.

Spike hugged her. “I love you alright? Please don’t ever forget that.”

Aisling smiled a little to herself. “Never have.”

Aisling sat down on the floor after she had brought in the last of the luggage. Her arms hurting Spike poked his head out of the room that Aisling had claimed as her own and knelt by her side. “Time for bed little one.” He said a hand on her shoulder. “You can finish unpacking tomorrow.”

Aisling stared at him for a long moment. “Can I just sleep here?” She asked. “ ‘m too tired to move.”

“Aisling.”

“Worth a shot.” Aisling yawned before she stood. “Don’t forget to put the curtains up before daybreak, I so do not want to wake up with a pile of ash as my father.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I won’t.”

“Good,” Aisling said before she stood up and walked to her room. “Night, Dad.” She said before she closed the door.

Once she closed the door she sighed and rummaged through her suitcase to find a white lacy short-sleeved nightgown. Slowly she peeled off her day clothes and slipped her nightgown over her head.

She sat on the bed, that Spike had made up for her, for a moment just taking in her new room and sighed. “Home Sweet Home.” She said softly before she lay down and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Within moments she was asleep.

Outside the door, Spike looked around his apartment and sighed. “Home sweet home” He echoed.


	2. Meeting the Slayer Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aisling's first day of school at the Hellmouth goes... better than could be expected.  
> Course that bar was extremly low to begin with anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Hope you enjoy.  
> Chapter was originally going to encompass all of episode 1 but that chapter ended up being like 30+ pages so here's just the first day of school. 
> 
> (Though if you'd like me to upload chapters as a whole instead of splitting the bigger chapters into multiple parts let me know.)

Buffy nodded absentmindedly as Xander and Willow talked about how they buried The Master's bones before she turned back to Xander. "Anything else?" She asked desperate to get as far away from the topic of the Master and last May as possible.

"Outside of that the only other thing of interest was someone ran over the 'Welcome to

Sunnydale" sign last week," Xander said with a shrug. "Should have seen it, the thing looked totaled."

"Oh yeah, I noticed that while we were driving in," Buffy said as they walked along. "What happened?"

"Dunno. happened sometime during the night, the running theory is that someone got tired and weren't being as careful as they should have been."

"They find out who did it?" Buffy asked looking straight ahead.

"If they did the police are keeping quiet," Willow said. "You don't think it could be vampires, do you?"

Buffy sighed. "I don't think so," She said. "You said it was a week ago? Most vamps don't wait a week to start creating carnage. You did say the vampire we just fought was the only one seen all summer." She stepped away suddenly tired and desperate to be as far away from the subject of vampires as possible. "Well, I should probably get home, clothes won't unpack themselves."

"Oh," Willow said looking a bit upset. "Well ok then see you."

"Oh, come on," Xander said. "Unpacking can wait an hour or so can't it?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not this time." She said.

"You should at the least contact Mr. Giles about the vampire," Willow said.

Buffy scrunched up her nose. "I'll see him in school." She said before she walked off.

***

The dream wasn't a cohesive narrative. Just a wave of images she couldn't stop, and Aisling in the center trying so hard to ride the wave and fighting against the need to just push them away.

Aisling could only hear, and feel, and see snippets as all the memories rushed past. Throughout the sequence, the same verse of a song she had never wanted to hear again played itself over and over.

Fire, so much fire- unable to get out-

"Go mbristear do chosa, do chosa-

"Close your eyes Aisling."

"Go mbristear do chosa bean Pháidín-

"Release him- "

"Go mbristear do chosa, do chosa-

The sounds of bones cracking-

"Go mbristear do chosa 's "do chnámha-

"Precious doll- "

" Go mbristear do chosa, do chosa-

The flash of steel, a cut wrist-

"Go mbristear do chosa bean Pháidín-

Blood, so much blood

"Go mbristear do chosa, do chosa-

"They're dead Bit"

"Go mbristear do chosa 's do chnámha-

Carrying her father to their hotel as he bled from his wounds-

Over and over and over again they played in her head, snippets of the worst moments of her life, with that song playing in the background. As the images and sensations passed by her and the song replayed its final verse (Her favourite verse) curled in on herself and covered her ears and shut her eyes, waiting for it all to end.

***

Aisling opened her eyes as she shot up from the bed. She looked around, and took a deep breath, and put a hand on her heart.

It was racing. She winced her dad might have been severely weakened from Prague, but his five senses were still so much more superior than hers. She took a deep breath and tried to will her heart rate to slow down.

When she was confident that her heart was beating at such a rate that her father wouldn't ask questions, she pulled off her covers and slid out of bed.

She shook her head trying to clear her head of the dream, her therapist had told her that change could bring back the nightmares and a change that was brought about by a traumatic event would make it all the worse. She'd dealt with this before, she'd had to move because of dangers before, she could handle this now-

Knowing that did not make her feel better and didn't stop her from focusing on the fact that it was different now. Her father had never been so severely injured before. If something went wrong; if her name on the rental agreement wasn't enough to keep vampires out…

"Princess?" Spike called through her closed door.

Aisling jumped and turned her head she hadn't realized that she hadn't moved. "Yea?" She asked crossing her arms.

"Can I come in?"

Aisling turned toward the windows in time to see the sunrise. "Wait!" She called climbing over her bed and hurried to the window. For a moment she took a second to stare at the sunrise before she pulled the curtains as hard as she could over the windows. When she was satisfied that no sunlight could get through, she walked toward the door and opened it. "Hey, da'."

Spike's stood on the other side of her room his eyes lingered for a moment on the three scars that ran down the length of her arm as well as the short horizontal line that ran across her inner forearm. Eliza covered the horizontal scar and looked down.

"Your heart rate spiked – twice." He said. "Are you ok?"

"First day o' school," Aisling said attempting to wave him off. Her accent had lessened over the years, but it still came out on occasion "You know how it is."

Spike leaned against her door frame. "Are you sure?"

Aisling stared up at Spike and looked away. "Yea."

Spike stared down at her for a long moment. "You know you don't have to pretend with me, right?"

Aisling shrugged. "I had a nightmare – but I'm fine. I get them every time I change schools. It's… fine." Inwardly Aisling winced at the repetition.

Spike raised his eyebrow, which emphasized the scar on his left eyebrow. "Is that right?" He asked.

"Yea," Aisling said. "I need to shower." She said walking over to the wardrobe and pulling out her housecoat. "Can you move?"

Spike rolled his eyes and moved out of the way. "Don't think we're done talking about this missy."

"There's nothin' to talk about," Aisling said. "And shouldn't you be restin'?" She asked.

"I'm fine at the mo'," Spike said.

"Uh-huh," Aisling said. "And you accuse me o' pretendin'?"

Spike glared at her. "Just- just go take your shower.

Aisling laughed before she disappeared into the bathroom.

An hour later, she exited her room, her curly black hair was tied back in a ponytail, her nails painted almost blood red. Her clothing consisted of dark blue jeans and a white tank top. Her large round dark blue eyes stared up at him questioningly.

"You look good," Spike said taking a sip from his cup of warmed blood.

Aisling smiled her-the corners of her lips turning upward. "Thanks, Da'" She said softly.

Spike smiled and walked forward and kissed her on the forehead. "You're welcome." He straightened and turned toward the kitchen. "Now have some breakfast, I'd rather not have your first day of school be ruined because you fainted after not havin' eaten."

Aisling chuckled and shook her head. "I've gone without it before," Aisling said as she went to sit at the kitchen table. "It's not a problem."

Spike sighed as poured out some cereal and some milk into a bowl and slid it over to Aisling.

"Eat, and don't forget your meds."

"Aye aye," Aisling said as she scarfed down her breakfast. When her bowl was empty she pushed it away and stood and left to the bathroom to take her meds.

The minute Aisling was out of sight he dropped his head onto his arms suddenly tired.

Or, well, no it wasn't sudden, he'd been feeling tired since Aisling entered the kitchen, but he hadn't wanted her to worry.

He wanted to drive her to school this morning – first day and all that, but now he didn't know if had the strength to make it downstairs, let alone drive Aisling to school.

He didn't know how long he was like that when he felt someone's hands on his upper arms.

"Come on," Aisling said gently pulling him up. "Bed."

"I'm fine Ash."

Aisling nodded and smiled softly. "It's fine, I promise."

"It's tradition," Spike argued.

Aisling sighed. "I know, but this isn't my last year of school, there is always next year. Besides, you and I both know that you aren't a stickler for tradition anyway."

Spike sighed. "It's different when it's you."

Aisling squeezed his arm. "Rest, I wanted to walk to school today anyway."

"Alright." Spike gave in. "I do love you, Princess."

Aisling leaned forward and they both kissed each other on the cheek. "See you later," Aisling said waving as she walked away. "Get some rest."

***

Finding the school wasn't hard. She had seen it several times over the past week as she explored the town. She knew exactly where she had to go to get there even if she had chosen to walk.

The problem however was finding her way into the principal's office. She had no idea where it was and the school had called her on Friday to let her know that she had to be at the office to pick up her schedule, documents that needed to be signed, and that the principal wanted to have a word with her.

Aisling had a feeling the principal wanted to talk to her about the number of schools she'd been to. He wouldn't be the first principle concerned over the number of times she'd had to move around.

Still, the class was gonna start soon and she still had no idea how to find the office. She looked around for someone to ask and spotted a girl with long brown hair and bangs held back with a hair clip. She had on a light blue sleeveless shirt with a white and black striped skirt and white heeled shoes.

Given the confidence, she was exhibiting it suggested that she was the alpha especially with the way all the other girls were hanging off her every word. She straightened the black leather jacket that she was wearing fixed her hair took a deep breath and walked forward as confidently as she could.

"Art and buildings? I was totally beachless for a month and a half. No one has suffered like I have. Of course, I think that that kind of adversity builds character-" She heard the girl say as she walked up to her.

"Uh 'scuse me?" Aisling said with a light wave. "Sorry to interrupt but I'm completely lost."

Aisling could feel herself getting measured as the resident alpha looked her up and down.

"Nice shoes." The girl said sounding vaguely impressed. "And that leather jacket is tres chic."

Aisling couldn't hear any lies in her tone and decided to take her at her word. "Thanks. Sorry for interrupting, but I'm lost, and I desperately need to find the office to get my schedule and papers to be signed." She said, "I'm Aisling by the way, I'm new."

"Sure…" The girl said before she started rattling off directions. Then her eyes caught hold of someone a couple of feet away. Aisling turned her head to see who Cordelia was staring at and saw a man with dark hair and a receding hairline, who appeared to be about as tall as Aisling and kind of reminded her of a Ferengi. "Or you could just talk to Principal Snyder there," Cordelia said pointing off.

"Ah," Aisling said. "looks strict."

"Yeah, word of warning, he hates students." She said her voice low to avoid being heard.

"Like bad at hiding, he hates students, or gleefully lets everyone knows he hates students?" Aisling said her voice equally low.

"Leaning towards that second one." The brown-haired girl said.

Aisling pursed her lips and nodded. "Ah, might as well get this out of the way, thanks," She said starting to walk off then she paused and turned back around. "I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your name."

"Cordelia Chase." The brunette said with a wave. "See you around."

"You too."

***

"Might as well be talking to myself," Snyder said Aisling watched as two adults walked away from him and had to bite her lip from chuckling.

"Principal Snyder?" Aisling stepped in with a smile. "I'm Aisling-"

Snyder glared at her and Aisling found her smile wilting.

"Can't you see I'm-" Snyder said turning around and noticing that Mr. Giles was nowhere to be seen. "Talking to someone…"

"My apologies," Aisling said bowing her head slightly. "But I was told that before I head to my first class this morning, I had a meeting with the principal. Who, I was told, is you."

"Least you aren't transferring halfway through the year," Snyder said walking away from her,

Aisling walked up after him. "Unlike another troublemaker student."

Aisling wisely kept her mouth shut.

Snyder walked ahead of her, occasionally pulling students out and warning them to 'spit out that gum', 'tuck in that shirt', and at least once to 'stop laughing.'

Oh yeah. Aisling thought sarcastically. This is gonna be fun.

Snyder led her through the school to the principal's office and opened the door and lead her through it.

"I see you've moved schools quite a few times, Miss Pratt." Principal Snyder said when she entered.

"I have." Aisling nodded.

Snyder narrowed his eyes at her. "Any particular reason why?"

Aisling shrugged. Cause I live with a vampire who hunts demons for a living?

"Dad and I don't like being tied down to one place for too long," Aisling said giving the usual answer she gave when asked that question.

Snyder's eyes narrowed. "I can sense you're a troublemaker, Miss Pratt," Snyder said leaning forward over her file. "I don't like having troublemakers in my school. Since there's nothing in your record that suggests delinquency I'll just have to settle with letting you know that I'll be watching you very closely – understand?"

Aisling bit the inside of her cheek to keep from losing her temper.

"Now Ais-ling," Snyder said with a slightly smug smile. "Anything to say before you pick up your schedule?"

Aisling fought demons, vampires, and entire mobs of human beings. Principal Snyder in comparison was a small man, who liked acting tough to compensate for his small demeanour.

Still. Getting kicked out of school on the first day was not a great way to start the school year.

"No Sir." Aisling said paused and then decided 'screw it'. "Except, really – it's pronounced Ash-ling." She said before she jumped out of her seat and ran out the door before Snyder had a chance to yell at her.

***

Buffy sighed as she sat in class vaguely aware of the new student that walked into class and sat just in front of her after having spoken to the teacher for a moment.

"Hey." The girl said her hand outstretched. "I'm Aisling; I'm new." She had a slight accent that Buffy had trouble placing.

Buffy forced a smile on her face. "I'm Buffy." She said taking the proffered hand.

Aisling's eyes became questioning before she sat turned to pay attention to class.

Buffy tried to pay attention to class like the good student she was supposed to be, but she found herself without the energy, her mind constantly drifting to other topics. Memories and feelings that she didn't need or want, but still they came at the most inopportune time.

For the entire day, she found herself unable to concentrate only barely able to be present when Ashlyn-or whatever her name was-asked her a question about the assignment the teacher had set, as well as a question about where the library was located.

She could tell that the newbie was aware that she was distracted but outside of giving a fake smile there wasn't anything else Buffy was willing to do to prove that she was fine.

So instead, she did something else – she tried to alleviate her feelings by forcing herself to think about something else.

"So…" She said "Newbie huh? Where from?" Buffy asked after class as the new girl walked along beside her. Willow and Xander keeping pace on the other side.

"Well, I was born in Ireland," Aisling said indirectly telling Buffy where her accent was from.

"But I've lived in America for years, recently moved here from Los Vegas."

Xander chuckled. "That must have been interesting."

"What did your parents do there?" Willow asked curiously.

"My dad's a private contractor and a writer," Aisling said with a smile.

"So, he doesn't work in a casino," Willow asked.

Aisling rolled her eyes. "No, though he has gone there from time to time to play poker."

"Your dad a big gambler?" Xander asked.

Willow's eyes widened and hissed "Xander!" In a low shocked voice.

Aisling shrugged. "He likes to play, and he's good." She said then smiled gently. "He's responsible."

"That's good," Buffy said distractedly.

"Everything alright?" Aisling asked turning her attention to Buffy. "You seem…" Aisling looked around trying to find the right word.

Buffy jumped and turned around. "Oh – yeah." Buffy scoffed waving her hand. "I'm fine."

Aisling sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Rough summer?"

"No! No…" Buffy winced at her defensive nature "Is it that obvious?"

Aisling smiled sympathetically. "Me too," Aisling said. "Dad got awful hurt while the two of us were vacationing. Ended up having to cut our vacation short."

"Sorry to hear that," Buffy said. "Is he better?"

"What happened?" Xander asked.

"Took a bad fall." Aisling said before changing the subject. "Do you know where the computer science room is? It's my next class."

"Oh yeah, Willow takes that class," Buffy said pointing to Willow.

"You a computer whiz?" Willow asked brightly.

"Oh no, but it can't hurt to learn how to use them," Aisling said waving toward Willow. "Get the feeling that knowing how to use them is going to beneficial in the future."

Willow stepped forward. "Well, I can show you where it is!" Then she became hesitant. "That is- if you want me to?"

Aisling smiled and linked arms with Willow. "Please, newbie here, any help given to me by anyone would be welcome. Especially after the lecture, I got by Snyder just before class."

"Lecture?" Xander stepped in Buffy herself leaned over intrigued. "Ooh, what happened?"

"He… was concerned over the number of schools I'd been to in the last few years," Aisling said. "Thinks I'm a troublemaker, just because I've moved around a lot." Aisling rolled her eyes.

"Moved around a lot?"

Aisling nodded. "Yeah, Born in Ireland, moved to America when I was around 8, and dad moved us around. Neither of us like being in one place for too long."

"Ireland?" Buffy asked. "Guy I know is from Ireland."

Aisling looked impressed. "Fellow Mick huh? He go to school here?"

Buffy paused and suddenly looked as though she wished she'd never brought it up. "Uh No. He doesn't. So anyway Ireland huh? That must be fun."

Aisling nodded. "It is. Dad and I go back there every other summer, was supposed to go there this summer, but I changed my mind last minute," Aisling said, Buffy vaguely noticed that Aisling's eyes went slightly distant at that, but before Buffy could even think to comment on it, Aisling shook her head and continued. "We take turns choosing summer vacation destinations every year. I usually choose Ireland, but decided on Prague…" She paused and looked around at everyone staring at her "and I accidentally revealed that dad and I have a lot more money than most people, here didn't I?" Buffy wondered what the look on her face must have been because Aisling immediately looked uncomfortable. Buffy tried to smooth out her features.

"Only by the fact that you can apparently afford to leave the country every summer," Xander said with a sarcastic grin.

Aisling winced.

"It's fine." Willow jumped in. "Not unless you're the type to flaunt it, like a certain queen bee we know."

"Cordelia Chase?" Aisling asked. "Met her before class, she pointed out Snyder to me."

"Be warned she'll only put up with you until you threaten her status – then she'll drop you like a hot potato."

"Yeah, I've been to enough schools to know how most Queen Bees work," Aisling said. "The last school I went to, her daddy owned one of the top casinos in the Strip… and was a major benefactor to the school, needless to say, that girl was the walking definition of untouchable."

The bell rang.

"Shoot," Willow said linking arms with Aisling. "We're late, we gotta go, Bye Buffy, bye Xander." She said before she hurried off with Aisling.

"Uh bye!" Aisling said as Willow ran off with Aisling in tow. "See you later!"

"Bye!" Buffy said waving as Willow and Aisling hurried off.

***

"So… I hate the principal." Aisling said into her phone as she sat outside during Lunch a half-eaten sandwich in her hand. "But other than that…"

Aisling heard a tired chuckle on the other line. "You've had bad principals before. We're generally able to sort them out by Parent-Teacher Night."

"Yeah, but their hatred of kids and teens wasn't so… blatant. It's both refreshing and weird." Aisling said taking a bite out of her sandwich deciding not to bring up if Spike would even be well enough to head out to PT night.

"You alright?"

Aisling nodded her mouth full of food that she quickly swallowed. "Yeah, I can handle an awful principal."

"Good," Spike said. "I mean not good but…"

Aisling chuckled. "I know. It's fine, I only need to worry if I get sent down, and I'm really good at not having that happen."

"Just be careful, alright? You're over a Hellmouth. It's not just students and teachers you have to worry about."

"I know," Aisling said taking a bite out of her sandwich. "I have lived on one before y'know."

"Don't remind me." This time Spike sounded bitter.

"Wasn't so bad," Aisling said. "Can confidently say that I have, in fact, lived through much worse."

"Amazingly, that's doesn't make me feel any better." Aisling could almost hear Spike rolling his eyes at her.

"Aisling!" Aisling looked up as she saw Buffy, Xander, and Willow walking toward her. She smiled and waved as the three walked toward her.

"Who was that?" Spike asked.

"Just some people I met in class," Aisling said. "I Gotta go. Try to get some rest. I'll see you when I get home alright?"

"Your making friends?" Spike sounded almost thrilled at the idea.

Aisling rolled her eyes, for a vampire her father could get so weird about the most human things. "Possibly, I'm not sure. I gotta go, I'll tell you more when I get home."

"Fine," Spike said. "I love you, princess, alright?"

Aisling smiled. "I'll talk to you later." She said just as the three students walked up to her.

"Love you."

"Love you too," Aisling said before she flicked her phone closed. She looked up and smiled at the three of them. "Fancy meetin' you here." She said. "What can I do for ya?"

"Sitting by yourself is no fun on your first day," Willow said sitting beside her. "Thought we'd keep you company."

"Oh, thanks! It was no trouble." Aisling said with a smile. "Just thought I'd call my dad let him know how my day was going."

"You two must be close." Xander said.

Aisling smiled and looked down. "Yeah, his work keeps him busy but when he's home he does his best to make sure that we spend as much time together as we can." She said with a shrug.

"So, what did you think of Miss Calendar?" Willow asked. "Pretty cool huh?"

"Yeah, she is," Aisling agreed, taking another bite of her sandwich. She looked at Buffy who looked like she was starting to Space out. "What about you Buffy?"

Buffy turned to Aisling her eyes wide. "What?"

"Your day, how was it?" Aisling asked with a small smile.

"Uh" Buffy gave a one-shoulder half shrug. "It was fine."

Aisling nodded. "So, have anything decent to do in this town?"

"There's this nightclub called the Bronze." Willow cut in with a smile. "Club let's just about anyone in, everyone goes there."

"Nightclub?" Aisling said.

"Yeah, that's not a problem is it?"

Aisling shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich. "Music any good?"

"Oh yeah, the Bronze does live music almost every other night," Willow said eagerly. "You should check it out one of these nights."

Aisling shrugged. "Maybe."

***

"Sorry!" Aisling said into her cell. "I'll be out in a few minutes, I just wanted to check out a couple of books for English."

"What books?" Spike asked.

"Uh- shoot." Aisling cursed as she realized she forgot what the booklist was. Aisling pulled the list out of her book bag. "Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies, Wuthering Heights…"

"We have Pride and Prejudice, so you don't need to bother checking that one out," Spike said.

"I remember," Aisling said. "The other two, however-"

"I can wait," Spike said. "See you later, Bit."

"See you," Aisling said closing the phone.

The Library wasn't too hard to find once she'd stopped and asked Cordelia where it was. She found Cordelia to be a little tactless but not overtly off-putting in her help

She opened the double doors and walked into a middle-aged man and a blonde girl in a tank top and leggings, the girl was doing flips and jumps over the room. Aisling was mildly concerned that the books would be destroyed but given the middle-aged man didn't seem concerned over the books, she had to assume that it was a common occurrence.

Aisling coughed to get their attention and the blonde immediately stopped her gymnastic routine while the middle-aged stood straighter at seeing her there. The blonde girl turned her head and Aisling immediately recognized her as Buffy.

"Yes?" The man asked stepping forward.

"Sorry." Aisling said, "I needed to borrow a few books for class-though I can come back early tomorrow instead."

"No, no." The man said. "It's fine I'm Mr. Giles the Librarian, what books did you need to get?"

"Wuthering Heights and Lord of the Flies" Aisling rattled off.

Giles pointed off to a nearby bookshelf. "They should be there."

"Thank you," Aisling said, she turned to the blonde. "Hey, Buffy." She said waving slightly.

"Hey, Aisling," Buffy said.

"So… any reason you're working out in a library, instead of the gym?" Aisling asked as she made her way to the bookshelf.

"More private," Buffy said a little too quickly. "No one comes in here." Her eyes widened and she turned to Aisling. "Uh… you know regularly."

"Hmm," Aisling said as she looked around the bookshelf and smiled when she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the two books off the shelves they had been standing on and smiled as she turned to Buffy.

"How was the rest of your day?" Buffy asked.

"It was fine," Aisling said. "Very little homework, but that's to be expected for the first day of school, right?" Aisling's eyes caught the sight of another book and she gasped and grabbed it.

"Emily Dickinson?" Buffy said. "Someone I dated, once, liked her."

"Yeah, I like her rhythm… as well as listening to my da' rant about how… American she is.

Though honestly, I don't get it… he likes her poetry too."

"American?"

Aisling paused and smiled. "Yeah, my da' was born in London."

"Ahh," Buffy said. "So, your Irish-English?"

Aisling shrugged. "I'm adopted."

Buffy's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Aisling shook her head. "It was a long time ago," She said softly.

"Still…" Buffy said. "Can't have been easy."

"You have no idea," Aisling said. "But what in this life is?"

Aisling handed the books to Mr. Giles. "London, right?"

"Yes. How did you-"

Aisling smiled. "My dad was born and raised in London too."

Giles nodded and finished checking out the books for Aisling and handed them back to her.

"Nice to meet you Aisling."

Aisling smiled and nodded she turned to Buffy. "See you." She said before she hurried out the door.

***

Aisling saw the black Desoto as she made her way off school property. She stared for a moment before she smiled and shook her head and walked toward the car.

Aisling knocked on the window, she watched through the darkened windows for Spike to cover himself with the blanket. When she was confident, he was sufficiently covered she quickly opened the door entered and closed it.

Spike removed the blanket and tossed it into the backseat. "How was school?"

"Fine," Aisling said tossing her backpack in the backseat. "Met some interesting people… specifically this one blonde girl."

"Interesting how?" Spike said as drove off.

"She was doing gymnastics in the Library." Aisling said, "and the Librarian wasn't scolding her the look on his face seemed to suggest that it was a common occurrence."

"Huh."

"I know that not every athletic girl I meet is gonna be the Slayer. I mean hi I exist. But I mean it is strange. And given the fact that the Librarian is from London-"

"I'm from London." Spike cut in with a raised eyebrow.

"Who seems to oversee her training in a very empty Library, it does suggest something strange is going on," Aisling said.

"Did you tell her your suspicions?"

"And risk being wrong and mortifying myself on the first day of school?" Aisling shook her head. "No."

Spike smiled in spite of himself. "That's not what I meant. Most humans aren't aware that such a thing as a Slayer exists. You revealing yourself-"

"Might reveal more about me and my family than I want." Aisling finished. "I know. We did talk though, both now and at lunch."

"What'd you talk about?"

"She knows I'm adopted. There's a club called The Bronze that everyone goes to."

Spike nodded but decided against giving Aisling a final decision on whether he wanted her out after dark. On the one hand, he knew she could take care of herself – Prague had proven that and she'd gone out after dark multiple times in Vegas - but on the other Hellmouth energy tended to make demons and soulless vampires act even more hostile than normal.

Still, if she was befriending the slayer assuming her assumption was correct… it would give her a smidge more protection.

"Da'?" Aisling said staring up at him.

Spike turned to Aisling and smiled. "What else did you and this strange girl talk about?"

***

"You know, I could have walked home from school," Aisling said as she watched her father lean tiredly against the doorframe. "You don't have to waste what few precious moments you have feeling 'ok' coming to pick me up."

Spike pushed himself off the doorframe attempting to wave away her concern. "Nonsense, dropping you off and picking you up on the first day of school is tradition."

"I once again feel the need to iterate: you hate tradition," Aisling said taking his hand and leading him to the Master Bedroom. "Come on. Back to bed. Then I'll make us some dinner and we can eat together."

Spike make a face. "I'm not a child, Bit."

"No, you're just stubborn and gormless," Ash said. "Bed. Now." She said pulling him along.

"When exactly are you gonna stop treatin' me like somethin' breakable."

Aisling turned and smiled, and Spike immediately realized his mistake.

To her credit Aisling didn't bring up the hypocrisy of his statement and instead answered his question by pulling on his arm roughly, Spike nearly fell over luckily for him Ash caught him and held him steady. "When I can pull your arm and you can resist better than that."

"You caught me off guard."

Aisling raised an eyebrow and Spike suddenly had a feeling of what it was like for Aisling throughout the years.

Spike sighed. "Did I ever make you feel breakable?"

"You're a vampire with superhuman strength, speed and agility, any human who knows you would feel breakable in your presence," Aisling said as she opened the bedroom door, she turned to see Spike looking at her guiltily. Her gaze softened and she stepped forward. "You helped me feel strong."

Spike scoffed, "That was cheesy."

"Yea, but it's true," Aisling said. "Now come on, I'm hungry and your hungry." When Spike looked like he was about to open his mouth and retort. She fixed him with the same glare he would throw at her when she was being obstinate.

He did not like that. That she could just throw everything back into his face and he couldn't do much against it.

Especially when he knew that she was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Song’s in the dream sequence is: Bean Pháidín the version I’m familiar with is the one sung by Celtic Woman. Though there are other versions sung before Celtic Woman sang it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. And if you did. Review!


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